VIDEO: How to catch postpartum necrotizing fasciitis in time

PARK CITY, UTAH – Postpartum necrotizing fasciitis, a surgical emergency, can be set off by nothing more than a small vaginal tear or a standard cesarean incision, and it’s easy to misdiagnose at first.

There’s no pus, and the skin can look mostly normal with just a little swelling. The tipoff is pain that seems out of proportion to the clinical signs.

David Eschenbach, MD, chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington, Seattle, knows the infection well. In an interview at the annual scientific meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology, he shared his insights on how physicians can recognize and treat postpartum necrotizing fasciitis in time to limit the damage.